An action learner is someone who tries to grasp the truth of something through various ways of learning, particularly those most appropriate to the person’s learning styles and self-empowering ways of critical education, i.e. questioning things, bringing one’s own perspective to bear on what one is encountering and ensuring that what one is learning will be beneficial not just to oneself, but also to others, in pursuit of empowerment, equity and holistic justice.

At the level of Action-Learner it is expected that you expected that you will:

1. Educate yourself and others about the issues and demands contained in the ‘Stop the Maangamizi!’ Petition.
2. Sign the petition, share it among your family, friends and colleagues and also ask them so sign and share also.
3. Share the petition on Facebook and other social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram etc.
4. Use the petition to stimulate discussion, dialogue and debate on the contemporary right of people of Afrikan heritage to reparatory justice for the crimes of genocide and ecocide. For instance, do particular issues within the petition stand out more for you?, if so, you can post your stories/experiences/case studies on the comments section of the petition, the SMWCGEC Facebook discussion group https://www.facebook.com/groups/stopthemaangamizi/ or blog/webpage www.stopthemaangamizi.com.
5. Post the link to the petition in the comments of relevant news articles and blog posts as part of a commentary on the contemporary right to be repaired.
6. Share the petition with local and special interest organisations who work or campaign on issues contained within the petition. Encourage them to provide organisational endorsements of the petition or take other actions such as sharing the petition among their email lists.
7. Share posts and updates from the SMWeCGEC social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and the Stop the Maangamizi webpage etc.
8. Host meetings to share information about the petition and its objectives which would be co-facilitated by SMWeCGEC reparations organisers, advocates or champions.
9. Identify edutainment artists you know and initiate a dialogue about how they can use their art form to promote reparatory justice and attract people to the meaningful use of the petition.
10. Help raise people’s awareness and consciousness about the aims, objectives and the practical organisational requirements especially mass mobilisation for the success of the annual 1st August Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations March.
11. Flex your change-making potential as a conscious holder of some degree of political power, by identifying yourself as a strategic voter and demanding reparatory justice action support from elected officials in your personal and community interests.
12. Sign the ‘Stop the Maangamizi!’ postcard, send a copy to your local MP and follow-up to see what the MP will do about your request.

ADVOCATES

An advocate is a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy. Their role is to explain and mobilise people and their related constituencies to sign, discuss and take action on the ‘Stop the Maangamizi! Petition. The minimum criteria is that such advocates have a track-record in activism and agree to undergo advocacy training to be able to facilitate action learning around the petition, utilise the petition in political mobilisation in support of the goals of the petition and develop expertise in the petition work.

At the level of Advocate it is expected that you will:

1. Encourage and support children and young people to raise the issues contained in the SMWeCGEC petition as part of the educational content taught about in schools, colleges and universities.
2. Assist people in developing, maintaining and monitoring relations with schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions to ensure they are addressing issues in the SMWeCGEC petition as relevant to curricula and extra-curricula activities, in the best interests of our Afrikan Heritage Communities and the ISMAR (International Social Movement for Afrikan Reparations).
3. Help organise an event in your community or among groups that you are part of to promote the ‘Stop the Maangamizi!’ Petition and/or any of the specific examples of everyday genocide/ecocide mentioned within it.
4. Help identify and gather evidence of instances of genocide and/or ecocide as it is impacting on people of Afrikan heritage today.
5. Initiate a dialogue on the contents of the ‘Stop the Maangamizi!’ Petition and its relevance to specific special interest groups in the community, for example, at your place of study, work, worship or recreational spaces. Seek to get resolutions passed supporting reparations and the goals of the SMWeCGEC petition in your churches, trade unions, student unions and places of work.
6. If you are a student of Afrikan or Afrikan Caribbean heritage take action to implement the National Union of Students – ‘Black Students Campaign’ (NUS-BSC) motion 400: International Peace and Justice on reparations passed at the 2014 Black Students Conference which advocates lobbying for the establishment of the All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth & Reparatory Justice, establishing local, national and international benches of the Ubuntukgotla – Peoples International Tribunal for Global Justice and recognition of the “principled standpoint” of Pan-Afrikan Reparations for Global Justice.
6. Assist people in developing, maintaining and monitoring relations with faith based organisations to ensure they are addressing issues in the SMWeCGE petition as relevant to their faith based activities and programmes, in the best interests of our Afrikan Heritage Communities and the ISMAR.
7. Write a song/poem/story/article or develop another art form which teaches how genocide and/or ecocide are manifesting and impacting on people of Afrikan heritage and our communities today.
8. Begin doing family and community research on how your family have suffered and continued to suffer the crimes of the Maangamizi. Afrikans in the UK and Europe are organising towards establishing commissions of inquiry and local, national and international people’s tribunals to hold the governments of Britain, and Europe to account. Such evidence that you are able to gather are important so that we can arrive at a comprehensive assessment and a full picture of what our journeys and experiences of the Maangamizi have been. Each person and representative of families and communities have to become our own advocates and experts on our own situation and then we can bring all these experiences together as part of us becoming ‘reparations enforcers’ to hold to account all those who are continuing to profit from ill-gotten gains and are complicit in the perpetuation of the Maangamizi today.
9. Host events including (consultation/dissemination of information and fundraising events) on the ‘Stop The Maangamizi!’Petition goals such as the All-Party Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry for Truth & Reparatory Justice (APPCITARJ) and the Ubuntukgotla – People’s International Tribunal for Global Justice (U-PITGJ).
10. Assist people in developing, maintaining and monitoring relations with their publicly elected officials at local, national and international levels to ensure they are addressing issues in the SMWeCGEC in the best interests of our Afrikan Heritage Communities and the ISMAR.
11. Amplify the diverse voices of various contingents of the ISMAR by promoting the broad range and diversity of people, communities and movements organising for reparatory justice throughout the world.
12. Facilitate organisational work on 1st August Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations March and contribute to, as well as support, mobilisation for the march, with particular attention to highlighting its role in raising people’s consciousness about the global resistance of Afrikan people to genocide and ecocide today. For example, sign up to be part of one of the march blocs to help mobilise participation among affinity groups in support of the march.

CHAMPIONS

Petition champions are persons who distinguish themselves in being able to articulate the history, goals, purpose and politics of the ‘Stop The Maangamizi!’ Petition and facilitates corresponding actions, as a seasoned activist on the petition.
Honorary petition champions are those persons who have years of activism on the issues highlighted within the petition.

At the level of Champion it is expected that you expected that you will:

1. Share your knowledge and experiences of activism to guide in advising, facilitating promotion and representation of the ISMAR on issues contained within the ‘Stop The Maangamizi!’ Petition.
2. Monitor the media on issues pertaining to the ‘Stop The Maangamizi!’ Petition and its goals and amplify ISMAR perspectives to highlight, correct and reinforce ISMAR positions in the media on reparatory justice concerns.
3. Identify ethical fundraising opportunities and social enterprises that can regularly donate to the campaigns and activities of the ISMAR.
4. Assist other people in playing various roles which are deemed to be important for the success of the petition and winning the ISMAR cause they are championing.
5. Engage in forms of intergenerational dialogue and popular education initiatives on issues pertaining to the ‘Stop The Maangamizi!’ Petition and its goals.

Please note success in this campaign means remembering that quantity does not beat quality. While the number of signatures is important, the quality of the petition and the input of the people signing it — e.g., people taking time to engage in other actions to promote the petition as part of realising its goals, — will ultimately prove more persuasive than raw numbers.

We thank you in advance for any support you can give. Help us to help each other build the people power we need to tip the scales of justice on our side!

‘Stop the Maangamizi: We Charge Genocide/Ecocide! Campaign (SMWeCGEC) Spearhead Team